Contraceptive telehealth visits spike in reimbursement parity states during COVID-19 pandemic

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual visits for contraception treatment shot up in states that mandated telehealth be reimbursed at the exact price as in-particular person visits, according to new exploration published in JAMA.  

Scientists uncovered that telehealth accounted for 30.5% of contraceptive visits in parity states and 21.6% of visits in nonparity states during the pandemic. Thatup from telemedicine accounting for 1.5% of all contraceptive visits pre-pandemic. 

“Conclusions shown an improve in telecontraceptive visits in states that mandated reimbursement parity vs states that did not. This increase did not correspond to an boost in whole contraceptive encounters, suggesting that, although reimbursement parity may have expanded obtain to telehealth solutions, it did not enhance accessibility to contraception overall.”

The cross-sectional research looked at outpatient claims of females ages 14 to 49, for 10 months before the pandemic and then all through the pandemic. The analyze integrated 9,279,294 contraceptive claims amid 34,109,287 enrollees. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

In accordance to the American University of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 49% of pregnancies are unintended. Telehealth has generally been pitched as a way to increase obtain to contraceptive care solutions.

“Boosts in use of telehealth for contraception (telecontraception) all through the pandemic current an option to grow obtain to contraception by using telehealth,” authors of the investigation wrote. “Reimbursement parity mandates applied by some states in response to COVID-19 needed insurers to reimburse for telehealth at the very same price as for in-man or woman companies, potentially growing entry to telecontraception.”

THE Bigger Development

These days there are a lot of digital well being corporations doing work in the contraceptive treatment house. Nurx, which got its start out featuring start manage and PrEP prescriptions, has now elevated $113 million just after completing a Collection C funding round, and entered into agreement to merge with 30 Madison earlier this yr. 

Very simple Wellbeing, which uses telehealth to deliver buyers with birth command, not long ago procured reproductive treatment enterprise Emme for an undisclosed sum. 

An additional player in the room is the Pill Club, which scored $41.9 million in venture funding in 2021.